Some motor vehicles are fitted with a sunroof system including a sunroof panel that can be slidably moved to selectively open an opening formed in the roof of the vehicle for allowing light to enter the passenger compartment or for ventilation. Such a sunroof panel is often made of a transparent panel such as a glass panel. The sunroof brightens the interior of the vehicle and provides a sense of openness on the one hand, but may excessively brighten or warm the interior of the vehicle. To control the excessive admission of sunlight, a panel-shaped or sheet-shaped sunshade may be provided under the sunroof panel so as to be moveable between an open position for admitting the sunlight and a closed position for blocking the sunlight.
In the vehicle roof equipped with a sunroof panel and a sunshade each moveable to expose and close the roof opening, it may be desirable that the sunroof panel and the sunshade can be driven electrically. To enable the sunroof panel and the sunshade to be driven electrically, it may be conceived to provide two sets of an electric drive unit and an operation switch, one set for the sunroof panel and the other set for the sunshade. In such a case, however, individual operations of the drive units for the sunroof panel and the sunshade may result in an unfavorable situation in which the sunroof panel is open when the sunshade is closed. To prevent such a situation from occurring, it has been proposed to provide a vehicle roof device including a control circuit for interrelating the operations of the drive units for the sunroof panel and the sunshade with each other (see JP4-293617A, for example).
Further, with regard to the vehicle roof equipped with an electrically driven sunroof panel and an electrically driven sunshade, it has been proposed to use a single operation switch (switch console) to control both the sunroof panel and the sunshade (see JP11-268540A, for example). Specifically, the operation switch disclosed in JP11-268540A includes an operation member configured to be slidable from a neutral position in opposite directions, and defines two slide positions (switching positions) of the operation member in each direction, so that there are four switching positions defined in total. Of the four switching positions, a pair of inner switching positions are associated with the opening and closing of the sunshade, respectively, while a pair of outer switching positions are associated with the opening and closing of the sunroof panel (cover), respectively. Namely, when the operation member is moved to one of the inner switching positions, a control circuit controls a drive unit for the sunshade to move the sunshade to an open position, and when the operation member is moved to the other of the inner switching positions, the control circuit controls the drive unit to move the sunshade to a closed position. Similarly, when the operation member is moved to one of the outer switching positions, the control circuit controls a drive unit for the cover to move the cover to an open position, and when the operation member is moved to the other of the outer switching positions, the control circuit controls the drive unit to move the cover to a closed position. JP11-268540A describes that the control circuit may take into account the time period for which the operation member is positioned at the inner switching positions to determine whether the positioning of the operation member at the inner switching positions is intended by the user or just transitional, resulting from movement of the operation member toward the outer switching positions. It is further described in JP11-268540A that the control circuit may be configured such that when the operation member is moved to one of the outer switching positions to drive the cover, the control circuit may also trigger the movement of the sunshade toward the open position or the closed position depending on the position of the cover or the sunshade. In the vehicle roof device disclosed in JP11-268540A, since a single operation switch is commonly used for controlling the operations of the cover (sunroof panel) and the sunshade, an installation space for the switch can be reduced and the vehicle interior can be simplified.
However, in the vehicle roof device disclosed in JP11-268540A, it is necessary to define two switching positions (or operation positions) in each sliding direction of the operation member, and this makes the structure of the operation switch complicated. Further, in a case where a user moves the operation member from the neutral position to one of the outer switching positions in an attempt to operate only the cover (sunroof panel), if the user does not move the operation member fast enough, the control circuit may determine that the operation member has stayed at the inner switching position located on the way from the neutral position to the outer switching position for longer than a predetermined time period, and trigger the movement of the sunshade against the user's intention before the operation member reaches the outer switching position to cause the cover to move. Thus, there is still room for improvement in the operation of the vehicle roof device.
DE 198 12 630 B4 discloses a device for operating a roof element (sunroof panel) and a sliding liner (sunshade) of a vehicle, in which the opening and closing of the roof element and the sliding liner is controlled in response to an operation of a single switching element (operation member) by a user. The switching element disclosed in DE 198 12 630 B4 is movable in first and second directions which are opposite to each other, where the first direction coincides with an opening direction of the roof element and the sliding liner while the second direction coincides with a closing direction of them. In the device disclosed in DE 198 12 630 B4, a first operation of the switching element in the first direction causes the sliding liner to begin moving in the opening direction and a second operation of the switching element in the first direction causes the roof element to begin moving in the opening direction, while a first operation of the switching element in the second direction causes the roof element to begin moving in the closing direction and a second operation of the switching element in the second direction causes the sliding liner to begin moving in the closing direction. In this device, if, during movement of the roof element or the sliding liner triggered by an operation of the switching element in one of the two directions, the switching element is operated in the opposite direction, the movement of the sunroof element or the sliding liner is stopped, so that each of the roof element and the sliding liner can be positioned at a desired position. Further, when the switching element is operated in the first direction twice successively (or “double-clicked”) in a state where each of the roof element and the sliding liner closes the roof opening, both the roof element and the sliding liner are caused to begin moving in the opening direction. Similarly, when the switching element is operated in the second direction twice successively in a state where each of the roof element and the sliding liner reveals the roof opening, both the roof element and the sliding liner are caused to begin moving in the closing direction.
In the device disclosed in DE 198 12 630 B4, one of the roof element and the sliding liner is caused to begin moving when the switching element is operated once, and both the roof element and the sliding liner are caused to begin moving when the switching element is operated twice successively. However, the number of selectable operation modes of the roof element and the sliding liner is practically limited in the device of DE 198 12 630 B4 because requiring a user to operate the switching element more than twice successively would considerably reduce the operability of the device.